Hi. I have had a few normal synths and now am interested in trying modular synths. But all that I have looked at seem to require purchasing at least 5 or 6 modules and each module seems to be $100 or more, plus another $100 or $200 for a keyboard. I am just looking for something simple to play with and have fun with and not for serious music playing or professional use. I would be perfectly happy with DIY kits if that is the best way to go as long as they are not too difficult to build. I would like to have something that works for $200 US or less. Is there anything available in this price range?

They're not strictly speaking modular, but they work in much the same way as modulars, and they can get your feet wet. It's still going to be a few hundred dollars all told, but not as much as even a basic euro system.

If you do want to build it,
To save money and tie it all in with what you've already got, I'd look at a MIDI>CV+Gate module first. Either DIY or commercial. Then just start with a VCO an VCA combination, from MFOS. Add VCF, ENV, LFO, later, as you need them.
That way you can start testing and playing from one of your MIDI keyboards, and incorporating sounds into your music straight away.
From my own experience, you can build heaps of stuff, but if you haven't got that MIDI>CV+Gate section covered (like me) then all the modular analogue stuff will remain quite isolated, and not easy to incorporate into your digital sound._________________What makes a space ours, is what we put there, and what we do there.

http://www.hard-mod.com/eng/duo_.html
is probably the most bang for your buck right now. It would cost you about 2k or so to pick up the amount of modules that he puts into the DUO. He's in mexico so it makes everything cheaper for him in general. There are a few new demo videos that were really outstanding, that I think you can find on his facebook page.

Uses an arduino, and I'd guess that it was less than $20 in other parts, so depending on which model arduino you were to use, pretty cheap.

There are other, more robust versions out there too (mine doesn't do ANYTHING but CV, Gate, Trigger, and has no options for changing MIDI channel or other stuff that, in retrospect, would be useful), including pre made PCBs. I'm looking forward to this project becoming available to get a better MIDI->CV for my second rack of modular components

Let's not forget about this to guys. This is not a bad deal for $550. The PAiA P9700S modular synthesizer. Good for DIY builders. This what I built up many years ago when I first started fiddling around with modular synthesizers. I personally think its a good first modular. For what you get, the price is very good.

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